News and Events

The Year in Review: Rethink Security

During a year of high-profile breaches like Equifax, HBO and Uber, as well as the realization that Yahoo’s highly-publicized 2013 breach compromised the accounts of allthree billion of its users, the tide started to turn in 2017. Organizations, industry experts, thought leaders, the media and even consumers began to understand the status quo simply isn’t working. Ideas like Zero Trust and comprehensive identity protection moved center stage and the Centrify solution advanced into the spotlight.

After a survey at the RSA Conference revealed that just 55 percent of IT pros believe their company’s current technology ensures security, and a Forrester study showed two-thirds of all companies experienced five or more data breaches in the past two years, the tipping point was reached. It was no longer possible to deny that organizations need to rethink their entire approach to cybersecurity.

What’s that Einstein said? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The existing approach of securing endpoints, installing firewalls or even cobbling together different identity point solutions was not the answer. Nor will it ever be.

Centrify Rebranding

Considering Centrify’s growing influence in the industry, we decided it was our responsibility to lead the charge to a new approach. And so we built a secure, comprehensive identity platform consisting of three industry-leading security services: application services, infrastructure services and endpoint services. Together, these make up Centrify Identity Services.

In February, we launched a newly designed website, new ads, ebooks and a 30-second and two-minute video to communicate our message: A holistic approach to identity via a single platform can stop a breach. The message is resonating. Companies are beginning to rethink their security. Our mission is just getting started, but the traction we’ve already achieved is remarkable.

Zero Trust Security

The combination of growing mobile workforces and cloud apps means network perimeters can no longer be relied upon to prevent breaches. There must be zero trust in networks, users and devices.

In 2017, Centrify launched its Zero Trust approach to security in the enterprise. In short, the Zero Trust model effectively shifts access controls from the perimeter to individual devices and users. It assumes that everything—users, endpoints and resources—is untrusted and all access to them must be authenticated, authorized and encrypted to decrease the chance of a breach.

The Centrify Zero Trust model analyzes and evaluates user identity, device posture and conditions like date, time and location. A user is only granted access after they’ve confirmed their identity via, for example, a successful multi-factor authentication (MFA) challenge.

A zero-trust model makes it harder for intruders to gain access to corporate resources using a compromised credential. It significantly reduces exposure while giving organizations more control over sensitive data and assets in a perimeter-free cyber world. At Centrify, we are committed to helping our customers embrace this new reality and move towards a Zero Trust model.

Additional Centrify 2017 Highlights

Machine Learning

Centrify integrated machine learning into its identity platform that not only ascertains the risk level of every individual transaction, but determines in real-time whether or not to allow them. Until now, few solutions have had the ability to actually stop a transaction in its tracks. This pivots identity security away from detect-and-respond alerts and towards more automated, preventative controls. It’s a big step forward in security.

Leader in IDaaS and PIM

With the release of The Forrester Wave™: Identity-As-A-Service, Q4 2017 report, Centrify became the only identity services provider to be positioned as a leader by Forrester in both the IDaaS and Privileged Identity Management markets. Forrester awarded Centrify the highest possible score in 22 of the 41 evaluation criteria, citing that Centrify’s “virtual-directory designed solution has extensive access policy protocol support, robust risk dashboards, integrated threat and identity analytics, and intuitive policy management.”

It’s been a banner year for the Centrify solution. And that has created significant momentum on the corporate side as well.

Centrify CEO Tom Kemp, an industry expert in security and infrastructure software, discusses market and technology issues around the disruption occurring in the Identity and Access Management market due to the cloud, mobile and consumerization of IT trends occurring in today's IT environment.